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Rockies and Rangers play this afternoon in a BDC Irritation Special. Forecast high in Arlington is 96 degrees. I understand the occasional Sunday afternoon game, since it's getaway day, but why a Saturday afternoon game?

Not sure if Severino is done after 7 innings, only 3 hits, no runs, 9 K's, Game Score 78, on 93 pitches, without his "best stuff", apparently. I'd rather have him rested for his next start than squeeze another inning today, but either way probably works.

Judge deserves to be an All Star starter, Andy. Yeah, Trout and Betts are having better years but Judge is on pace for a 7+ WAR season.

Gleyber Torres' .911 OPS (going into today) is 63 points higher than any AL 2nd baseman with 175 PA. Some voters may discount that somewhat because he wasn't called up until April 22, but there is no requirement to do so.

Severino is now tied for the AL lead in Wins (I know, I know, but some sportswriters look at it) and is 2nd in ERA. It’s early, but it looks like the Cy Young race could be a second-half battle between Verlander, Kluber, Severino and Sale. Verlander still firmly in the lead now, but he’s not running away with it like Scherzer is in the NL (although deGrom and Nola can make that race interesting).

Why not Judge? Trout, Betts are clear starters, but he is as good a #3 as anyone.

Right, since I don't pay attention to All-Star voting I keep forgetting that they lump the OF positions together. And yes, Judge should be #3. I guess he'd be in RF, with Trout in CF and Betts in LF, or vice versa for those last two.

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Gleyber Torres' .911 OPS (going into today) is 63 points higher than any AL 2nd baseman with 175 PA. Some voters may discount that somewhat because he wasn't called up until April 22, but there is no requirement to do so.

I wouldn't disagree with that, either. I had no idea he was that much better than his competition, and I was assuming that his fewer games would be a negative tiebreaker.

Severino is now tied for the AL lead in Wins (I know, I know, but some sportswriters look at it) and is 2nd in ERA. It’s early, but it looks like the Cy Young race could be a second-half battle between Verlander, Kluber, Severino and Sale. Verlander still firmly in the lead now, but he’s not running away with it like Scherzer is in the NL (although deGrom and Nola can make that race interesting).

If you want to go Deep Stat about it, Severino's actually 1st in FIP. In that stat he's helped by the somewhat mediocre defense behind him.

Gleyber Torres' .911 OPS (going into today) is 63 points higher than any AL 2nd baseman with 175 PA. Some voters may discount that somewhat because he wasn't called up until April 22, but there is no requirement to do so.

As a Yankees fan, I love how fantastic Torres has been. And if Altuve were sucking, I could see a case for him. But for the All-Star game I tend to defer to an exciting and established star in his prime and having a typically really good season versus a rookie's two great months. YMMV, and I respect that. I could see Torres as a backup at the AS game, unless there's no room on the roster after each team brings 20 relievers.

As a Yankees fan, I love how fantastic Torres has been. And if Altuve were sucking, I could see a case for him. But for the All-Star game I tend to defer to an exciting and established star in his prime and having a typically really good season versus a rookie's two great months. YMMV, and I respect that. I could see Torres as a backup at the AS game, unless there's no room on the roster after each team brings 20 relievers.

I'm in that camp. I look at a group of players having good years and then look at their last 365 days (since that is a split readily available on bb-ref) and their overall career up to that point. I find it hard to justify a guy who is having a good two months getting my vote over an established player, with the exceptions of highly touted rookies. We've all seen guys who had a good two months and by the time the All-star game comes, they are no longer having an all star type of season.

Torres fits the camp of highly touted rookie, so I can see him getting some votes, but I'll still go with the guy who won the MVP last year, has played 25 more games than Torres, and is putting up the same ops+.

Andrew Baggarly @extrabaggsLongoria having surgery Tuesday. Not needed but will help speed recovery/minimize muscle atrophy to have a permanent pin inserted. Out 6-8 weeks but aims to return shortly after All-Star break.

Watch the Giants' team offensive numbers improve over that stretch of games.

I would argue that rooting for the Yankees is not a healthy way to go through life.

Pull my finger, dude !

For me, I would kill myself if I was a Red Sucks, Todgers or Barves fan. All others are neutral ##### !
I get the Yankee hate though. Most fans of other teams are fat, ergo pinstripes are not very advantageous.
Also the beards and long hippie hair, which is also not very nice.
If you possess any kind of, the smallest kind of, even a tiny amount of style, there is only one team to root for.

apparently there is a memo that every ####### second of the broadcast they must be talking.

Every radio broadcast, every TV broadcast, every podcast suffers the same inexorable mandate: keep that VU meter bumping. It's not limited to sports, it's not limited to a particular medium, Nature abhors a vacuum and broadcasters abhor silence. You can apply this each and every time you notice it because it always applies every time, everywhere in all situations.

Every radio broadcast, every TV broadcast, every podcast suffers the same inexorable mandate: keep that VU meter bumping. It's not limited to sports, it's not limited to a particular medium, Nature abhors a vacuum and broadcasters abhor silence. You can apply this each and every time you notice it because it always applies every time, everywhere in all situations.

Some are more annoying than others though, the national mlb broadcasts are rapid fire from subject to subject as if they have a checklist of topics they much cover per inning.

Looks like the Cardinals are getting subtle with their devil magic, since it appears as if it's going to be Harrison Bader this year. Six WAR (EDIT: pace), but most of it on defense. Makes sense. You can't have 27 year old 8th round draft picks putting up .950 OPSes every year without someone getting suspicious.

I'll state I'm not a fan of this lineup... Molina should be 6th or later, he hasn't looked good since he came back, and there is no reason why you move him to the third spot, for the most part, the lineup should be Carpenter/Bader/Pham/Ozuna/Gyorko in the top five spots, Fowler in the fifth spot, and then Molina, maybe, or Munoz if you really think he is as good as he has been.

The cards have 4 position players in their lineup with OBPs of .295 or lower.

Fowler, Molina, Munoz and Wong, of which only one of them doesn't have an established track record over the past 3 seasons a bit better than that. Wong has been an elite defender, and Molina is currently down simply because his ball exploded and hasn't returned to form, Fowler is Fowler, he's streaky as hell and will bounce back... Munoz is just a triple A player being asked to be a bit more than that. I'm fine with all of them, but of course I would prefer a lineup that had DeJong, Jose Martinez playing.

Really? The Cardinals don't actually look good against him, other than the homerun by Ozuna... Martinez drove in a run by piss poor positioning, and a couple of other hits have been luck. It's a 3-3 game but Hendricks is the guy who looks like someone who knows what he is doing, while Carlos is looking like a guy he has talent but keeps getting himself in trouble and lucking his way out of it.

This game should probably be 5-2 right now in favor of the Cubs, but the Cardinals have been luckier than isht.

It's probably going to take me another year or two to completely give up hope on Heyward. It's like Edwin Jackson 2.0. Every AB, I'll rationally know he's going to pop out or ground out moderately sharply to 2B, but my stupid heart will still think "this is where it begins..."

I feel like I used to think that Smoltz was a good TV analyst, but the last couple times I've watched a game he was doing, I've thought he was nigh unbearable. He's become a Pontificator instead of an analyst, not really focusing on the actual game so much and instead deciding that he must share his Very Serious Opinion on whatever random topic comes up. He's as bad as bored Bob Costas.

He's good to very good at second, he's average to slightly above average at first, and sucks at third.. but the moving around frequently does take a bit getting used too, he really hasn't played much first this year.

having said that, he is changing a bit, he's having a good year at third this year, but that could be sample size as much as reality.

#85 ... for sure he's been pitching well and I'm wondering if Joe is starting to have faith in him and shifting his usage accordingly.

#88 ... that was for TBS yeah? And largely in the studio? Or am I misremembering that? Now on Fox and the color guy, I suspect he's been told to talk a lot, talk authoritatively, probably be more traditions.

Cardinals about to have their longest losing streak of the season, four games. And considering how idiotic our fan base is, they will demand the head of Matheny, Mozeliak and whoever is actually the gm of the team (I know his last name starts with a G, but that is about it)